Hong Kong's rise from obscure fishing port to world city is usually put down to good colonial rule by Britain. This book challenges such a view and shows how the city's success was shaped by the ruling elite, business class, compradors, social activists and other native Hong Kongers. Rewriting Hong Kong's history from the bottom up, the chapters investigate vital, but hitherto obscured, aspects of the colony's rise. They cover the Chinese collaboration with the colonial regime, legal discrimination and intimidation, rural politics, social movements, government-business relations, industrial policy, flexible manufacturing and colonial historiography. Drawing together contributions from historians, sociologists and political scientists, the book highlights the role played by a variety of social actors in Hong Kong's history and differs both from recent celebrations of British colonialism and anti-colonial Chinese nationalism.